Offered by Over The Blue Horizon and recently obtained in Tokyo is a superb pictorial: “IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY SHIDEN KAI” better known in the West as the Kawanishi N1K2-J GEORGE fighter. 

Volume 24 from the out-of-print but still very well-regarded Gakken Taiheyo Senshi Shiriizu (Pacific War Series) published in 2000, this 182-page, 7 x 10 inch softcover with dust jacket is another great Gakken publication – this one focusing on the superb late-war GEORGE fighter.  This aircraft was derived from the Kawanishi N1K1 Kyofu REX floatplane fighter which was originally designed to support forward offensive operations far in the Pacific where no airstrips were available, but by the time the REX became operationally available in 1943, its designed role was already outdated as Japan’s war strategy had already shifted to the defensive.  However, because the design proved promising, an upgraded, land-based version of the fighter was designed -- the N1K1-J Shiden GEORGE.  Without the large float and its corresponding high drag, the performance was significantly improved, but it suffered engine and landing gear problems, both of which were improved in the follow-on N1K2-J which lowered the position of the wing from its mid-fuselage location and simplified the landing gear and lightened the aircraft.  In this last configuration (and the main focus of this Gakken book), the N1K2-J Shiden-kai GEORGE was considered by its pilots and Allied opponents as being one of the finest land-based aircraft flown by the Japanese in WWII. Although considered the equal of the F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, and P-51 Mustang, the impact of the GEORGE – because of low production numbers and poorly trained IJN pilots -- did little to alter the eventual outcome of the war.

This exceptionally well-done pictorial offers the usual Gakken format -- Japanese text, good black and white photography, color profiles, fold-out illustrations, color photographs of an existing GEORGE, and superb detail drawings -- all with a focus on the mechanical aspects of the fighter.  Text is in Japanese but here's a prime example of the old but still relevant adage, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'.  Condition of this 182-page, 7.25 x 10.25 inch softcover with dust jacket is GOOD with moderate wear to the dustjacket -- TIGHT, BRIGHT, and CLEAN!